Avril told Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press he “probably won’t be there” when Lions veterans report to training camp July 26.

“I’m kind of disappointed that it didn’t happen, yeah,” Avril said. “But obviously I’m not one of their top guys right now as far as for getting a deal done. It’s all good. I understand. I just got to keep proving myself. That’s what I’ve been doing, and I’ll continue to do it.”

Avril said he’d meet with his agent this weekend to decide his next step, but didn’t sound like a man in a hurry to get there. He referred to going to his son’s birthday party on Aug. 3, a week after the Lions report.

“I don’t know when I’m going to go back, honestly,” Avril said. “Me and my agent have to sit down, talk about it this weekend and go from there. At least I’ll get to see my son’s first birthday.”

Without signing, he can stay away without penalty until just before the start of the regular season and still get the full amount of the tender. The only risk would be if the Lions rescind the tender offer. To tag him again next year would cost the Lions a 20 percent bump, or $12.72 million.

That seems unlikely, with all the other business the Lions have pending.

With starters including Louis Delmas, Corey Williams, Chris Houston, DeAndre Levy and Justin Durant coming up for new deals soon, coupled with the deal they just gave Calvin Johnson and the one they’ll have to give Matt Stafford, choices are going to have to be made.

I don’t even know why the Lions want to sign him so badly. Avril is a good player but not at the price that he wants. They have Willie Young, former 1st rd pick Lawrence Jackson and Everette Brown all who have alot of upside. They can produce just as well as Avril as a trio. Use the money to get Stafford and Delmas signed to new contracts.

It sounds like they are going to use this year to measure Avril’s long term value. If he pulls double digit sack numbers again this season, he might get a long term contract. If he has an average year, they will probably let him seek a big payday elsewhere.

My advice to Cliff is to enjoy your son’s birthday party and then sign the tender and report to camp. Your status gives you the flexibility to enjoy the time with your son, so do it.

But … you also need to treat your performance this season like a tool in your negotiations.

And also … find out the details about Barry Sanders legendary morning and night stretching rituals. Avoiding injury is obviously going to be key.

As of now there slated to pay matthew staffor aboit $20 mill for the 2013-14 season due to him restructuring his contract the last two years to help manage the cap. I foresee a longterm deal at end of this season for matt depending on injury,i am prettt sure his play will get him 12-15 million per for 7-8 years and it being back heavy. I dont think there will be much ptoblem extending him kust as there wasn’t with calvin johnson’s deal. Go leos all hail MEGATRON

If Avril skips minicamp, he might see himself leapfrogged on the depth chart by some of the other young DEs the Lions have, or at a minimum the number of snaps per game he sees the field will decrease. And that will make it ever more difficult for him to fill up the stat sheet, which he needs to do if he hopes to cash in next offseason.

If he skips the first part of training camp, when he shows up to sign for his multi-million dollar franchise tag the team should inform him that the tag has been rescinded and ask him to leave. I’m sure another team will take him but there will need to be some serious cap manipulation (most teams are pretty close to their cap limits this year) to get him what he is looking for.

I could live the rest of my life only sitting, eating and sleeping with 10 million dollars and he acts like he won’t be able to put food on his table by signing, sign the damn paper and play jesus murphy

This makes me sick actually. He has a poor attitude now because he didn’t get a bloated contract after 1 good season. What about all of the other seasons where he was subpar? He is still getting 10.6M for 1 year of work and he may skip camp??!! Unreal. AND he was offered $30M with 20 guaranteed for the next 3 years (which is too much as-is). I’m glad he didn’t sign and he just plummeted in terms of guys I’ rooting for. Greed is an ugly thing.

Do the right thing…Sign your waiver, get to camp and prove this year that you deserve that long-term contract. Your fate will be resolved by your work ethic and desire to suceed. Show them you are worth their commitment.

So sad! This guy keeps saying he want’s long term security…ah 10.6 million isn’t long term security? what a joke sign your tender get in there and prove you deserve more! not reporting and missing time will only hurt the team! it’s too late there are no options now!